Cindy Pugh (born May 1, 1957) is an American politician and former member of the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Minnesota Legislature, Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the Min ...

. A member of the

Republican Party of Minnesota The Republican Party of Minnesota is the oldest active political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The Minnesota Republican Party’s platform is relatively moderate. The party’s main issues are economic growth, education, healthcare, civ ...

, she represented District 33B in the western

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

metropolitan area.

Education

Pugh attended the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin. Founded when Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848, UW–Madison ...

, graduating with a B.S. i
Consumer Science
She also received a FastTrac Certificate from the School of Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas.

Minnesota House of Representatives

Pugh was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2012. Pugh, a Tea Party leader, followed "Republican Michele Bachmann’s call to politics." Democrat Kelly Morrison, a first-time candidate, defeated Pugh in the 2018 general election. Morrison's election represents the first time the bulk of the area composing today's District 33B have been represented by a member of the DFL party in nearly 4 decades.

Personal life

Pugh is married to her husband, Jack. They have two children and reside in

Chanhassen, Minnesota Chanhassen is a city about southwest of Minneapolis in Carver County and partially in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The southwest edge of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul suburbs, there is a mix of residential neighborhoods and rural l ...

Political activities

Pugh was a co-founder of the Southwest Metro Tea Party and follower of Michele Bachmann.

Controversies

Pugh and two other Republicans generated controversy in 2018 when they claimed to have knowledge of a "plot to 'mobilize Muslims to infiltrate our Republican caucuses'." The chairperson of the Minnesota Republican Party later rejected the post, stating that Muslims were welcome to caucus with Republicans and noting that "there is no religious test to participate in the Republican caucus." Pugh later renounced the post, but charges of Islamaphobia based on this event and others continued to follow her.

References

External links

Rep. Cindy Pugh
''official campaign website'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Pugh, Cindy 1957 births Living people University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Members of the Minnesota House of Representatives People from Chanhassen, Minnesota 21st-century American politicians